Extend

The extend command stretches the nearest endpoint of a Line to the closest intersection it would form with another entity in the drawing. Hover near the endpoint you want to extend — a preview shows the extended line — then click to apply.

Extend works on Line entities only. The boundaries the line extends toward can be any other entity type except Text, Mtext, Multileader, and Spline.

Extending a line

1. Type extend in the terminal or click the Extend toolbar button.
2. Hover near one end of a line — the preview shows the line extended to the nearest boundary in that direction.
3. Click to apply the extension.

The command stays active after each extension so you can extend multiple lines in sequence. Press Escape to exit.

  Before:                      After:

  ──────           |           ──────────────|
  (short line)     (boundary)  (extended to boundary)

How the endpoint is chosen

The command looks at which endpoint the cursor is closer to:

• Cursor nearer to the end point → the end is extended forward along the line direction.
• Cursor nearer to the start point → the start is extended backward (in the opposite direction).

A ray is cast from the chosen endpoint along the line direction, and the closest intersection along that ray with any other entity (excluding the line itself and the ignored types) becomes the new endpoint.

If no intersection is found in that direction, no preview appears and clicking does nothing.

Boundary exclusions

The following entity types are ignored as boundaries — a line does not extend to meet them:

• Text / Mtext
• Multileader
• Spline

All other types (Line, Arc, Circle, Ellipse, Polyline, Dimension) serve as valid boundaries.

Keyboard reference

Supported entities

Extend vs Trim